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enAudit: Voucher program lacks oversighthttp://www.banner-tribune.com/state/audit-voucher-program-lacks-oversight
<div class="field field-name-field-subhead field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Louisiana Department of Education audit </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="http://www.banner-tribune.com/sites/stmarynow.com/files/styles/medium/public/field/image/13%20June%2006%20gov%20jindal%20headshot.jpg?itok=ciwLaXn7"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://www.banner-tribune.com/sites/stmarynow.com/files/styles/medium/public/field/image/13%20June%2006%20gov%20jindal%20headshot.jpg?itok=ciwLaXn7" width="350" height="396" alt="" /><blockquote class="image-field-caption">
<p>Gov. Bobby Jindal </p>
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</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>BATON ROUGE (AP) — Louisiana’s Department of Education isn’t properly monitoring the state’s voucher program to make sure students are placed in private schools that demonstrate student achievement and success, according to an audit released Monday.<br />
Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera’s office released its first performance review of the statewide program, which was pushed by Gov. Bobby Jindal as a way to offer better educational opportunities to students in poor-performing public schools.<br />
The audit says the education department doesn’t have checks and balances in place to confirm the private schools that receive public tax dollars offer an “academically acceptable” education or have the space, equipment and staff to teach the voucher students they receive.<br />
“Without formal criteria for evaluating both the academic and physical capacity of a school, LDOE cannot determine whether participating schools can effectively serve the number of scholarship students they request,” the review says. “Such criteria will become even more important in the future should the program continue to expand.”<br />
The Department of Education defended its voucher oversight, saying it has strong protections and offering no suggestions that it would enact the tougher regulations sought by the auditor’s office.<br />
“The Louisiana Scholarship Program leads the nation in rigorous accountability standards. We are committed to enforcing these accountability measures to ensure the Scholarship Program provides high-quality options for Louisiana’s families,” the department said in a written response signed by Superintendent of Education John White.<br />
The voucher program began in 2008 in New Orleans. Lawmakers agreed to Jindal’s request to expand it statewide in 2012.<br />
Taxpayer-financed tuition through the program is available to students from low- to moderate-income families who otherwise would attend public schools graded C, D or F in the state’s rating system.<br />
The program, estimated by the education department to cost $36 million this year, has more than 6,700 students across 126 schools.<br />
Some private schools heavily rely on voucher students.<br />
In 18 schools last year, voucher students made up more than half of the enrollment. In New Orleans, 87 percent of the students at Good Shepherd Nativity Mission School received vouchers last year, according to the audit.<br />
Critics have raised concerns about the quality of some of the private schools taking voucher students, and the incomplete test results that have been released showed mixed results about performance.<br />
Purpera’s office suggested the education department should develop stricter procedures for removing poor-performing schools.<br />
Current regulations say the education department can oust a school from the program or refuse to allow it to accept new voucher students if it has “demonstrated gross or persistent lack of basic academic competence,” without defining specific criteria.<br />
Seven schools weren’t allowed to enroll new students this year because of poor student performance. Another school was kicked out.<br />
Purpera’s office says the education department should spell out criteria that could get a school removed, saying similar benchmarks are in place to judge public schools and charter schools.<br />
“Specific criteria would help LDOE ensure it is holding schools accountable for their performance and treating schools consistently,” the audit says.<br />
The education department disagreed, saying it needs flexibility in administering the program.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-section field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Section:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/state" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype=""><span>State</span></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/louisiana-department-education" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype=""><span>Louisiana Department of Education</span></a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/voucher" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype=""><span>Voucher</span></a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/gov-bobby-jindal" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype=""><span>Gov. Bobby Jindal</span></a></div></div></div>Tue, 17 Dec 2013 20:39:46 +0000Harlan Kirgan15826 at http://www.banner-tribune.comhttp://www.banner-tribune.com/state/audit-voucher-program-lacks-oversight#commentsVoucher program grows by 1,800 students http://www.banner-tribune.com/state/voucher-program-grows-1800-students
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="http://www.banner-tribune.com/sites/stmarynow.com/files/styles/medium/public/field/image/Jindal%20mug.jpg?itok=xdp1G0O0"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://www.banner-tribune.com/sites/stmarynow.com/files/styles/medium/public/field/image/Jindal%20mug.jpg?itok=xdp1G0O0" width="350" height="415" alt="Gov. Bobby Jindal" title="File Photo" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><div>BATON ROUGE (AP) — Lawsuits, funding concerns and questions about quality haven’t stopped the growth of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s voucher program.</div>
<div>The program added more than 1,800 students this year, according to the first official tally for the current 2013-14 school year released Monday.</div>
<div>The state Department of Education said 6,751 students are enrolled in 126 private schools across the state with taxpayer dollars. Another 24 students have switched to a high-performing public school through the voucher program, for a total of 6,775 enrollments.</div>
<div>That’s a 37 percent increase, up from 4,944 students using vouchers at the same point last year, in the first year of the statewide program.</div>
<div>“We feel good about the program. We do expect it to continue to increase year after year,” said education department spokesman Barry Landry.</div>
<div>Taxpayer-financed tuition through Louisiana’s voucher program, called the Louisiana Scholarship Program, is available to students from low- to moderate-income families who otherwise would attend public schools graded C, D or F in the state’s rating system.</div>
<div>Forty percent of voucher students are in New Orleans, where vouchers began as a pilot program five years ago and more than 2,750 students are at private schools with state tax dollars. Nearly 1,300 voucher students are in East Baton Rouge Parish.</div>
<div>The program is estimated to cost the state $36 million in the current budget year. The price tag is down from initial estimates. About 8,000 students were approved for state-funded tuition to private schools, but enrollments fell short of that number.</div>
<div>Landry said some students chose to stay in their public schools after they didn’t get into their first or second choice voucher schools. Also, he said seven schools weren’t allowed to enroll new students because of poor student performance. Another school was kicked out of the program.</div>
<div>Vouchers have been the subject of multiple lawsuits since lawmakers in 2012 backed Jindal’s proposal to expand a New Orleans-based program to cover the state.</div>
<div>The Louisiana Supreme Court ruled vouchers were unconstitutionally funded through a formula meant for public schools, so lawmakers had to rework the payment for the program.</div>
<div>Another lawsuit still pending in federal court was filed by the U.S. Department of Justice, seeking to bar Louisiana from awarding future vouchers to students who otherwise would attend public schools under federal desegregation orders — until getting federal clearance.</div>
<div>Jindal has pushed the voucher program as offering more choices to parents and students trapped in low-performing schools.</div>
<div>Critics have raised concerns about the quality of some of the private schools taking voucher students, and the incomplete test results that have been released showed mixed results about the performance of students in the program.</div>
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</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-section field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Section:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/state" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype=""><span>State</span></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/voucher" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype=""><span>Voucher</span></a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/gov-bobby-jindal" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype=""><span>Gov. Bobby Jindal</span></a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/louisiana-department-education" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype=""><span>Louisiana Department of Education</span></a></div></div></div>Tue, 22 Oct 2013 19:33:04 +0000Harlan Kirgan14352 at http://www.banner-tribune.comhttp://www.banner-tribune.com/state/voucher-program-grows-1800-students#comments